This week, I’m attending the annual conference of the National Agricultural Marketing Association (NAMA) in Atlanta, Georgia. This is the premier meeting of the professionals who buy and create advertising for your farm and ranch communications.
NAMA features panel discussions, a trade show, and a college student marketing competition. An awards program tonight will recognize the most creative, effective advertising campaigns for all media--print, television, direct mail, the Web, etc.
One of the new challenges for marketers is creating messages that work well in new media—websites, e-mail newsletters, and mobile devices. Social media—Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and our own Farmers for the Future social network—present another kind of challenge to advertisers: how to compete for your attention amid all the new user-generated content.
One way advertisers are using to get their messages across is to push them into the editorial space. “Expandable” units intrude into the editorial when you roll over them with your computer mouse. Some others simply pop up over your content when the page loads. You have to close the ad to view your editorial material.
I hope advertisers continue to rely on their creativity, rather than intrusiveness, in new media. It will be interesting to see what trends are showcased at this year’s NAMA awards program.
For me, the most effective campaigns use compelling visuals and language to invite your attention, as demonstrated in some recent Successful Farming magazine ads:
• Product comparisons--fuel efficiency test results from the Nebraska Tractor Test Lab. (John Deere)
• A useful bit of new research on the efficacy of soybean seed treatment. (Acceleron Seed Treatment System)
• Clear statement of value—durability, safety, warranty, etc. (Featherlite trailers)
• Words that work: “Measuring this harvest in bushels is like measuring a swimming pool in tablespoons.” (Syngenta Quilt)
• Dynamic visuals--closeup photo of work boot and soil. (AGCO Challenger)
On the Web, here are a few examples of ads currently on Agriculture Online that I think that provide compelling and useful information for farmers--without getting in your face.
Cruiser Maxx Beans
Cargill “fitter fry”
Case Magnum
Dow Powerflex
What kinds of agricultural advertisements do you like best? Least?
5 comments:
Survey's turn me off. You know, proprietary information.
I absolutely detest the mouse-over videos. I'm about ready to quit going to the agriculture.com because of them.
Here are a few examples of other comments I received through Agriculture Online:
* I really hate the damn pop up ones the most.
* You have to make money but when ads suddenly overlay what we are reading it becomes an unfriendly site. Pop up windows are one thing. But when simply running your mouse across the page brings them up, it becomes an unfriendly site.
* I know you guys have to sell ads to make money but the ones that are animated are a real pain in the butt. I log in on a VPN connection and the page won't open until the animation has run its course. Some days it makes it so it's not even worthwhile coming to the site.
I hate anything that is animated or pops up. I refuse to look at them they piss me off so bad.
Let me look and click on ads when I have time and I will spend the time it takes to read them.
The worst offenders are the "mouse over" ads because they continuously intrude every single time my mouse brushes them....Grrrr!
And why on earth do advertisers assume everyone has a high-speed connection that loads web page content at lightening speed? They insist on embedding video or memory-intensive graphics into their banners which takes my 'puter FOREVER to load. I refuse to even give them the satisfaction of a click even if I am actually interested in their product!!!!
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